Imagination and Reality: Seireitou Kawahiru vs Verus
Verus sat leaning against a tree within Hueco Mundo; turned away from the palace of Las Noches, which was still large on the horizon even at this distance. He had his eyes closed, but his breathing marked him as not asleep, but in thought; with medium breaths instead of deep and slow ones. He opened his eyes eventually to look at nothing in particular, but as if looking at something beyond. He sighed, taking out a casket and taking a sip from its unknown contents. Verus took another sip from his casket, before turning his mind back to other thoughts. Then he pocketed the casket and noticed a tremendous source of Reiatsu approaching. The desert sands whistled through the crystal trees of Hueco Mundo, all was silent in this Hollow Infested World. The black wormhole known as Garganta shattered the silence, as a man with striking silver hair walked out slowly. "Ah... Hueco Mundo. 'Tis been a while since I came here." At once, he felt a jolt of reiatsu run up his body, as he looked around. "Someone else is here... A Shinigami from the looks of it..." he thought to himself. Verus watched as Seireitou walked out of the garganta several meters away. He sighed, turning his thoughts from Seireitou; deciding whatever he was here for didn't involve him. There wasn't any wind in Hueco Mundo right now, causing his slightly ragged captain's haori to simply hang to the ground, unmoving. The man was indeed Seireitou, the former Captain of the Eighth Division. His business in Hueco Mundo was research regarding Datara and the Shinjū Mirror. He found it strange to find a Shinigami, much less a Gotei 13 Captain, in the Hollow World. Making an almost instant flash step, Seireitou appeared in the location of the tracked reiatsu signature. He looked over to the Shinigami, and smirked. "A Gotei 13 Captain? In Hueco Mundo? You wouldn't happen to be looking for Aizen, would you?" he sarcastically put. Verus looked up at the man, before returning his eyes to the horizon, still facing away from Las Noches. However, he did reply, "I simply prefer to spend my time here taking a nap than filling out paper work in an office and I'm not a Captain anymore." Seireitou chuckled alittle, and merely hid his arms in his sleeves, looking up at him. "I see, I see. Been ages since the fight with Kamui." he commented. Verus shrugged, "I suppose so... but why do I get the feeling you're trying to lead this conversation to something?" "Liar Liar." he grinned, "Are you trying to provoke me into a fight?" Seireitou answered, turning his grin into a sarcastic smirk. Verus smirked, "Hypothetically speaking, if we were to fight one of us, or both us would probably accidently torch Las Noches. A simple vandalism crime, but you know how those things escalate." Seireitou tilted his head off to the side, his hair parting to follow suit. "I have no intention of losing to a Captain-level Shinigami." he answered. Verus stood up, "Well then, that just means you dont' plan on losing to a captain... you'll have to show me with your blade what you do plan." Verus was clearly unarmed, but he still held alert eyes, as if waiting for something. A yawn penetrated his lips, as Seireitou scratched his head, slightly bored. "I don't tend to use ma' Zanpakutō on lil' Captains." he mused. Deicide Verus was quiet for a moment, before replying, "Your loss then, huh?" He then gestured with his hand upwards, directing Seireitou's attention to the mass of clouds that had appeared in the sky. "Hado #-45, Daiko," muttered Verus, calling down lightning from the sky. Seireitou's keen eye noted that this spell was clearly at full strength. Doing something completely unlike himself, Seireitou merely held his hand out, calling out the Hadō #8: Kiriken, to summon a Nōdachi to his hand. As the lightning neared him, he allowed it to overcome his person, by stabbing a particular point in the Kidō. The lightning was a distraction, and Verus called out another Kido as Seireitou disappated the lightning, "Hado #70, Shokuzainohi" The attack was at full strength yet again, and darkened the area further. 14 pillars of light came down in a random fashion, all aiming to pierce Seireitou. "Bakudō #90: Sotokonsekisho" he called out, forming a blue barrier around his entire body. Just as he anticipated, all of the attacks were repeled due to this spell being able to resist Destructive Kidō up to #95. However, he used a Kidō in conjunction to absorb the reiryoku from that spell and merge it with the quantity of the energy from the previous Kidō used by Verus. However, he made no actions thus far, and gave a smirk over to Verus. "Bakudō #79: Kuyō Shibari" he announced, creating eight black holes that emit spiritual energy in the personal space surrounding Verus, with a ninth black hole manifesting in the center of his chest. Seireitou stood tall, looming over the restricted Verus. Verus looked at his predicament before sighing, "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have to try harder..." He closed his eyes before muttering, "Hado #96, Ittō Kasō." Seireitou was suddenly engulfed in a gigantic fire. Verus didn't fully care if Seireitou was harmed, even if the attack was full power, it did what he wanted it to; break Seireitou's concentration enough to allows himself to break free. He then dropped to the ground, landing nimbly on his feet. Quite like before, Ittō Kasō was used by Seireitou as a means of energy. Now his plan was complete, having all the energy he needed with the three powerful Kidō that Verus had launched. He clapped his hands together, "Bakudō #99: Part One: Kin, Bakudō #99: Part Two: Bankin. First Song: Halting Fabric, Second Song: Hundred Linked Bolts, Final Song: Great Seal of 10,000 Forbiddings." he addressed, one after another using only the energy he stored from Verus's assults. Verus was sealed by spiritual fabric, iron shafts, numerous metal bolts, and the coup de grâce, a large metal cube; all these convened on Verus's location, the latter having little thought or time to plan a counter or retreat from this move. Verus was soon sealed completely, all the way to the metal cube. Seireitou smiled at this, not quite done. He held a little energy left from Verus's earlier Kidō and called out, "Hadō #91: Senjū Kōten Taihō." as several light spears all charged for Verus's location, to which the former planned to decimate Verus through an immense explosion. However, an explosion of that magnitude would easily affect Seireitou himself at so close a range. Therefore, it came to him, do deal even more damage and protect himself in the long run, he dredged up his own reiatsu and used Hadō #90: Kurohitsugi to cover the entire motley of Kidō cornering Verus, with the secondary intention of stabbing whatever should remain of the Shinigami Captain. At once, the explosion and sounds of death filled the night-time air of Hueco Mundo. All was silent for a moment as Seireitou smiled, until Verus' voice from behind whispered, "...Bakudo #-76... Kikan Toku..." Seireitou suddenly found himself in the same predicament as Verus had apparently been just moments earlier, minus the explosion. Verus sighed, As predicted... he sent everything at me at once... perfect time to counter. Verus then recited, "Limit of the thousands hands, respectful hands, unable to touch the darkness. Shooting hands unable to reflect the blue sky. The road that basks in light, the wind that ignited the embers, time that gathers when both are together, there is no need to be hesitant, obey my orders. Light bullets, eight bodies, nine items, book of heaven, diseased treasure, great wheel, grey fortress tower. Aim far away, scatter brightly and cleanly when fired. Hado #91, Senjū Kōten Taihō." As he finished his incantation, several spears of light appeared. They are all fired towards Seireitou at the exact same focal point; his heart. As they hit the sealed Seireitou, he is engulfed in a devastating explosion, once more ending the silence of Hueco Mundo. It was true, Seireitou's body was sealed. He couldn't move, therefore he could not dodge the impeding attack made by the redundant Verus. However... this next Kidō needed no physical movement. Closing his eyes, the only visible part of his body at this point, he mentally formed Kūkanten'i; a forbidden Kidō that could transport one area of space to another, even active Kidō spells... and he knew just where as well. The spears of light rained down on Verus, which was able to disrupt the latter's focus as Seireitou broke free by releasing alittle of his massive reiatsu reserves, to supplement the weakening of the spell via Verus's temporary defocus. Once he freed himself, he used Jikanteishi to seal the time happening in the range space of Verus and the Kidō to just before the energy would take effect on the Shinigami. He smirked at the latter's preformance, but was convinced Verus could not change this. He finished by forming a Kurohitsugi to surround the frozen time space right outside the frozen zone. The spears were shoved inside the large black box, as was the ability of this Kidō, as the sky was filled with a blood-curling scream... ...which then turned to a chuckle. Verus stood behind him, with a blade clearly generated from Hado -8 stabbed into Seireitou's back. Verus flicked his wrist to point at the other Verus that stood within Seireitou's trap. It suddenly disintegrated into particles, and as Seireitou watched this gigai disappear, he felt the sword twist in his back. The Striking Fang...! Seireitou grit his teeth, his hand on the part of the blade that had been forced out the front side of his chest. The sword glowed a bright green as Seireitou walked out of the sword, though blood stains covered the entirety of Verus's blade. Seireitou turned around and smirked at him, "Very nice. Your fang definately reached me." he complimented. Verus allowed the energy holding the blade together to disappear, and so the blade faded away, leaving the blood-stains to fly away in a sudden gust of wind. Verus yawned, "Just beause it reached you, I doubt it means you're done," he said flatly. "Interesting. You seem to overestimate yourself, Shinigami-san. Before you become intoxicated by your own power, I shall show you a decisive gap that you could never hope to close between us." he explained, as the arm that was originally hidden by his long sleeve, appeared with Seireitou's Zanpakutō in hand. Verus looked at the blade, "hm... you say there's a gap between our powers? Allow me to show you the error of your theory." In Verus' hand suddenly materialized a pitch black blade, with a flash he was gone, and then nearly instantaneuously slashed at Seireitou's back. Without even a glance, Seireitou met Verus's blade with opposition, completely blocking his assault. He finally turned his head to Verus and smirked. He laid his finger on the flat edge and charged reiryoku on his finger tip; this was his white Cero which fired at Verus at point blank, seemingly decimating his entire being at such close range. Verus disengaged his blade from Seireitou's at the same instance; pushing himself off in a different direction and barely avoiding the Cero. He then charged back in at highspeed; slamming into Seireitou's block and driving them both backwards, at speeds causing Seireitou's back to be slammed into a wall of Las Noches. As dust fell, Verus jumped back, waiting to see what Seireitou would do.